Six-foot-three L'Wren Scott left Roy, Utah, in September 1985 to become a model in Paris, and since then she has led a star-studded life. In Paris she befriended the designers she worked with, including Karl Lagerfeld and Thierry Mugler. She landed jobs as a hosiery model and hardly escaped notice: she was Pretty Polly and the leggy Dim Up girl in the talked-about campaign shot by renowned photographer Jean-Paul Goude.

In 1994 Scott, now 41, moved to California and became a stylist for celebrity photographer Herb Ritts, before branching out on her own to dress megastars like Nicole Kidman. In 2001 Scott met Mick Jagger, purportedly at a photo shoot, and today they often share a suite in a chic Manhattan hotel with expansive views of Central Park. She loves gemstones and fur and to be driven around town in limos. Scott loves the best of the best.

While Scott's business is small, she too wants to make getting dressed effortless. "My collection is based on a one-color palette," she says. She relies mainly on fabrics like silk jacquards and lightweight wools and adds drama in the cut. And with a staff of only four, she is involved in every phase of her business, even spending weeks at a time at her factories in Italy and France. "I'm not the first in line," she says, "but I am the one standing there making it perfect." —Josh Patner